Tuesday, 30 June 2015

As part of the Sevrean Dynasty project, I will build a big battle size Middle Imperial Roman for the Western Empire. Again, these would be primarily Old Glory 15s; legionary figures would be the same, but the auxiliaries would have the earlier body armour to make them distinct from the Eastern Auxilia. This would make identification easier when fighting battles during the civil war period.

Researching this further, the collection would be modelled after the units gathered by Septimius Severus for his campaigns against his rivals. These were taken from those serving the provinces of Pannonia and Moesia.and were the vexillations
of Legions and elite Auxilia units that served with Septimius Severus.

In
addition to the standard heavy cavalry units, there are two units of Contarii or
Cataphract which are an option.

Other than their outward
appearance, the two lists (Western and Eastern) are nearly identical.
Campaigning the civil wars are an option of course, but of greater interest are
the battles between Rome and the Sassanid. After completion, the Roman collection will number six commands each.

Although “Armies and Enemies of
Imperial Rome” depict shield patterns for Romans of this period, I actually
found a number of websites that offered good colour representations. Inspired by
these, I played with different shades of red and painted wings of either yellow,
near orange or white.

The two elements in the foreground are the I and II
Adiutrix (Marines) and behind are two elements each of X and XIV Gemina (Martia
Victrix). The tridents turned out passible, but the Dolphins, so-so. I am
pleased with the wings.

.
Part of the reforms set by Severus was a re-constituted Praetorian Guart and the II Parthica garrisoned outside of Rome. These two units are also represented here.

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Delving into late 2nd/ early 3rd century history has
generated a lot of un-answered questions regarding developments in and outside
the Eastern Roman Empire. This curiosity prompted me to explore the three
mountain kingdoms of the Caucasus which have been posted earlier. They may not warrant an army list according
to the parameters set by the DBA rule book, however, for our campaign needs, yes.

Following
that same direction I wanted to explore the 100 year period leading up to
Palmyra’s move toward independence in AD 260; a free city-state to breakaway
empire.

A quick summary of facts found during my searches.

From the Seleucid period to the end of the Roman Republic, Palmyra is a
trade centre along the caravan route which remained independent like the cities of
Emesa, Hatra, Edessa, Adiabene to name a few.

The early political
organization of the city was based on four tribes, each settled in a different
part of the city. These were: the Bene Komare (Kohenite); an Arab tribe,
the Bene Maazin or Ma'zyân; the Bene Mattabol, also of western
origin; and a fourth whose name is uncertain (Attar?). Each had its own
cult temple, but that of the god Bel represented all of Palmyra (Schlumberger
1971).

During the reign of Tiberius (AD 14 – 37), Palmyra became part of
the Roman province of Syria.

Hadrian, during his visit in AD 129
proclaimed Palmyra a “civitas libera or free-city”, exempt from taxation. To
what degree was Palmyra self-autonomous, there are differing views.

The
Antonine plague, brought back by returning soldiers from the Near East, spread
through the Roman Empire from AD 165 – 180. Mortality rate estimates vary from
15 to 30%.

By AD 212, unrest within the Parthian Empire diminishes
Palmyra’s trade through overland routes. Anticipating this, Palmyra steps up the
use of sea routes to the Indus.

Palmyra was named Colonia in AD 231, but
retained its own forms of government.

The reference to the military
title of strategos is a reminder that Palmyra was able to field archers, mounted
on camels and horses, who protected the caravans against the marauding desert
nomads (Ingholt 1976).

AD 260, Septimius Odaenathus, a Prince of
Palmyra, was appointed by Gallienus as the corrector totius Orientis (“governor
of all the East”). This frees Gallienus to deal with the breakaway Gallic Empire
under Postumus.

After the fall of Zenobia (AD 273), a legionary
fortress was established at Palmyra and remained an important junction to the
reign of Diocletian. This was garrisoned by the reconstituted III Gallica.

Now a look at the army lists.

Before the incorporation of Palmyra to Roman Syria
(Tiberius), I believe Palmyra may have deployed forces similar to other caravan
city states as the sources mention mounted and foot archers (not Roman).

These units listed are taken from tiles and grave stones found
in the area. We know that during the reign of Septimius Severus, a system of
defence in depth was set in place for the Eastern frontier so the units listed
above may have been briefly posted to Palmyra, but were normally
elsewhere.

This Project

Although this project focuses on
the period of the Severan Dynasty, in some cases a step back may produce a
better perspective, such as the advance state of Palmyra's list (II/74a) during
the reign of Septimius Odaenathus.

Palmyra had enough wealth to support
the raising of cataphract, but where did the troops come from? Were these
disaffected Parthian nobles who fled west and not to Armenia in AD 225? Could
these have been nobles who fled west during the earlier Parthian civil wars of
AD 197?

I have a few more sources to
gleaned, but in the meantime I can busy myself with another building project.

References:

The Palmyrene Prosopography, by
Palmira Piersimoni, University College London.Palmyra as a Caravan
City, Albert E. Dean, Stanford UniversityCaravan Cities: The
Roman Near East and Long-Distance Trade by Land, Fergus Millar.Ruins of
Palmyra, otherwise Tadmor, in the Desert, Robert Wood. (London
1753)Roman Economy and Trade in the Near East, Darell J. Rohl

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

The Alan list spans a remarkable long period of time, from
50 to 1500 AD. Within the time frame of this project, the Alans are enemies to
many but are allies to the Bosporan, Armenia and a 6th c. Sassan.
Aside from the core of nobles (Kn) the remainder of the army is filled with
light horse skirmishers. Yet, primarily a nomadic nation, the Alan may field units
of blade and infantry skirmishers.

Not particularly an aggressive nation and coming from the
steppe, you can expect a battlefield with low hills, but the rocky or scrub
areas and a meandering river will prove useful to pin your opponents against. Steppe
is also one of the few DBA geographical categories that lists a gully (another
project).

The figures come from Old Glory’s Asiatic Horse list.
The nobles are the Heavy Cavalry from that list and the LH are Alans both bow
and javelin armed.

The collection has no general designated as I had been
debating which type of standard to make;
a banner or a dragon standard. Since then, I have constructed dragon standards using
Milliput for the Sarmatians and Carpi. As these turned out very well I shall
make more for the Alan and any other nomad army that may follow.

Saturday, 13 June 2015

These older Old Glory Sarmatian cavalry were refurbished and detailed which brightened the collection up. Not quite enough for a DBA command, I ordered enough packs to fill out two commands.

These will eventually fight
alongside my Early Germans, Carpi or with the Alani. I have also enjoyed battles using two commands a side. These games are marginally longer, but still take less than an hour to play.

The additional cavalry and foot took about a week to paint. Quite an imposing force to run havoc among the Romans.

There is a lot on the Internet about Sarmatians but no one site can present a
clear picture detailing their history. Greek historians refer to them as
Scythian, others find the term Sarmatian to include the Rhoxolani, Iazyges or
Jazyges, and Alani.

My search focused on the later
2nd and 3rd centuries. This was a period of migration and Sarmatian settlements covered an area stretching from the Caucasus to the Danube basin.

The following links are an interesting read on the subject as the author
presents a lot of information.

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

I had an opportunity today to do a photo session. Here
are the Sassanid marching to meet Rome.

The advance guard.

The left wing cavalry

The central command

The right wing cavalry

The Immortals

The elephant corps

The levy.

The foot archers.

The remainder were based during the
army list “draft” phase as six elements of 3Bw. This will mean re-basing two
elements as Ps, but the remainder will be used to fill in the archer compliment
for a future collection for which I have three in mind.

The grass scatter pieces are from Leadbear of Australia. These are dried grass of 12mm length, perfect for scrub of arid regions. I have added "Acacia" trees to the scatter collection. These were older Woodland Scenic trees reshaped to fit the proper profile.

Sunday, 7 June 2015

These three armies were the result of a bulk purchase of Essex figures. For the most part these were Cappadocian and clothing styles were well suited for what I had in mind.

The 18 packs of figures were sorted into three commands giving the tribesmen of Iberia stronger number of foot (Ax), Albania more mounted and
Colchis/Lazika, with their longer history of contact with Rome, more spear armed infantry
(militia) and a few knights.

The collection now consists of 42 elements which gives me options for particular scenarios.

Saturday, 6 June 2015

Bordering Lazika is the mountain kingdom of Iberia. Strabo describes the region with its
important passes in his work Geographica. Not all of the Iberian passes create a bottleneck for north – south traffic, but others border on the western kingdom of Lazika/Colchis.

The plains offer ample
space for an agrarian based economy. Of the three kingdoms, information is
readily found covering the history of Iberia. I did find extracts of from
Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD
562” by D. Braund and this is definitely on my book list.

The many
descriptions of Iberian troops mention them covered with animal skins. Whether
these are headdress, cloaks or coats are not mentioned, but I will put the
Milliput to use tomorrow and create a mix.

Every figure has an animal skin headdress with the exception of the General and
guard; the leader has a fur trimmed cloak.

As these figures all have
cloaks giving them fur jackets or trim is rather pointless as it would be
difficult to see.

The Iberians field auxilia and skirmishers suitable for mountain warfare backed by armoured cavalry and light horse.

Friday, 5 June 2015

The kingdom of Colchis was to a certain degree a Roman province. However, the
“Roman-loving Iberians”, enjoyed Roman protection throughout the 2nd century
while remaining semi-independent.

Both Parthia and Rome had a mutual
goal of maintaining a barrier against the nomadic tribes north of the Caucasus
Mountains and during the 2nd and 3rd century at times helped one another toward
that goal.

This changed when the Sassanid came to power.

As the armies for the three Kingdoms have similar composition it was rather fun to devise a theme that would make each distinct from the other. During the period of interest, Colchis was administered as a Roman province with forts in the Roman style found along the coast and the interior. Whether these were garrisoned by Roman auxilia or local militia I am still researching this. I do know of Roman garrisons during the Later Imperial period.

In either case, I decided to give these a slightly Roman influence in clothing colour, so I selected a style similar to Roman Auxilia.

This command have an infantry core
of either militia spear or auxilia augmented with hill tribesmen as mercenaries
(Ax) or skirmishers (Ps). The mounted are evenly divided between cavalry (Cv/Kn)
and light horse.

In some respects, the composition of the command is not
unlike the Bosporan army of the same era.

Not shown are additional figures to add mercenary hill tribes (3Ax) and more skirmishers (Ps).

All figures are Essex which make converting or changing positions easy.
In this case, spears and shields were clipped free so they could be
re-positioned. The spear militia have a lively look about them.

These
will have a uniform appearance and I may add the “pill-box” cap later to give them a
western look.

While cleaning and re-positioning the arms and shields, I
thought these would make great African troops; all have cloaks and a javelin in
addition to a spear. Technically, these should have an oval shield for the 3rd
century, but this is a minor quibble considering the price I paid for them.

Thursday, 4 June 2015

My primary goal in collecting these kingdoms was to expand scenario options
outside the standard Rome vs Parthia, or later Sassan themes.

During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the major powers
were busy securing one of the most important barriers keeping the nomadic hordes
at bay, the Caucasus. Both Rome, Armenia and later Sassan would in turn would set their preferred
ruler on the throne of the kingdoms and send military assistance to keep that barrier secured.

Creating an army list
We know Iberian and Albanian troops serving
Armenia are listed (DBM) as javelin armed auxiliaries or bow armed fighting in
open order (Ps) with smaller numbers fighting in loose order (Bw).

Like their
predecessors that remained in the mountainous region (Scythian) we can
add a mounted force to our list. The nomadic armies are substantially small
numbers of armoured nobles with the majority being bow or javelin
armed.

Iberian and Albanian lists might follow an Armenian
one, however reviewing related lists (Scythian to Georgian) I would incline to
downgrade cataphracts to cavalry and have total number mounted vary from 1/3 to
1/2 of the army.

{1} The selection of Cv or
Kn class would reflect which major power is extending influence in the kingdom
at the time; Rome and Armenia (Cv) or Persia (Kn). Although Parthia and Sassan
placed members of the royal family on the throne, Sassan would offer greater
military support. Nonetheless, more research is need in this area.

On
the subject of economics, one of the useful references listed by H.
Sidebottom in the Warrior of Rome, The Caspian Gates is "Georgia in
Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562” by
D. Braund. At a list price of £116.00, this is a serious investment. I will see
what can be sourced first around the net before taking the plunge.